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ISSUE.D BY 

THt MICHIGAN TRUST CO. 

GRAND KAHDS.MICH. 



The Children's Garden 

By Ei,EANor Withev Wili.ard. 



With Illustrations from Photographs by 
Fedora E. D. Brown. 






PlIil.ISHED BY 

The Michigan Trust Company, 

Grand Rapids, Michigan. 



DEC 29 1904 

1 - Oop:/ri«iii tiitry 
\ CiU-iSS 0~ XXc. Noi 
I COPY 6. 



Copyrighted igO-/ 
By The Michigatj, Trust Company. 



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Introductory, 



PRIl'.Nl) ot ours once said that his 
tlA \ summer garden was always at the 
y^J^^i J^ highest point ot its glorv in Febru- 
ary, when the flower catalogues 
came, and his imagination saw with cheerful opti- 
mism the gorgeous bloom ot June. In this hope- 
ful spirit we put forth, in the middle ot December, 
this little tale of" A Children's Garden," not tor 
any flower lore that it contains, but tor the sake 
ot suggesting, in the midst of cold, snow and bliz- 
zard, the pleasant meditations that taith in a 
blossoming tuturc may induce, ^^nd it, inci- 
dentally, it shall stimulate in any children ot these 
modern days, an interest in some ot the simple 
ant! natural wa\s ot finding pleasure, we shall tcel 
that our summer pastoral has not been amiss, 
e\'en in muiwinter. 

The Michigan Trust Co. 
December -JT), l'.H)4. 



"Accept, 1 beseech your Majesty, this speaking 
Garden, that nnay inform you in all particulars of 
your store, as well as wants, when you cannot 
see any of them fresh upon the ground." 
The Garden of Pleasant Flowers. 
John Parkinson, 1620, 




A 



The Children's Garden. 

LONG time ago, when I was a little girl, 

there lived next door to us an old lady who 

had a beautiful garden. At least Barbara 

and I and Arthur and the twins thought it was 

a beautiful garden, though it wasn't tlie least bit 

like other gardens we knew about. 

One thing that made it nice was that there 
was no gardener to tell you that you must keep 
out, and who looked cross if you even peeped 
through the fence. The old lady herself was the 
gardener, and she said that anvone who really 




loved tiowers loved children, and she never minded 
our coming into the garden, although of course we 
understood that we were to he well-mannered, and 
not destroy things; and we loved the old lady so 
well that we never picked the Howers without 
asking. Another reason why we liked the garden 
was because it was not kept very trim and neat 
and regular, like a gardener's garden, hut just grew 
a good deal as it pleased. The hollvhocks bumped 
up against the sweet peas, and the poppies grew in 
the grassy borders, and the phlox was mixed in 
with the asparagus, and the myrtle spread round 




under the trees wherever it wanted to go ; and we 
children knew that all the flowers enjoyed having 
their liberty. There were clumps of marguerites 
in the open spaces, and black-eyed Susans in the 
orchard, and the old lady was just as fond of these 
as she was of her lilies and tulips. We children 
loved them a little better, because we could pick 
as many as we liked, and they made such beautiful 
daisy chains. 



We liked the dandelions that [rrew in the front 

o 

yard, and the old ladv owned up that she did too, 
although some people complained that they spoiled 
the lawns. Our old lady did not have any lawn, 
but she had things that we thought much nicer. 
There was a brook down at the back of the gar- 
den, w^here we waded and paddled by the hour. 
Along the banks there grew forget-me-nots and 
wild honeysuckle, and violets and lady-slippers> 
and ever so many other Howers. 




1 








clovers, too, down in the 






orchard, and on a warm 






summer day there was 




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nothing we girls liked bet- 




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ter than sitting under the 




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apple trees hunting them. 




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And in the autumn we 




were sometimes allowed to 




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build a little bonfire in the 




meadow beyond and roast 




Nm . ] ■ 


some of the apples. 






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Mother used to say that 




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the garden was her greatest 




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lielp in bringing us up; it 




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kept us out of mischief 




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and improved our disposi- 




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tions. Barbara couldn't 




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understand how a garden 




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could have any effect on 




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dispositions, but I knew. 




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I It was because of the gar- 




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■ den that we loved our 






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was so easy to love the old ladv — and Mother al- 
ways said that selfishness was '* the worst sin in the 
calendar," because it lead to all the other sins — 
though what the calendar had to do with it even 
I did not know. But when we were in the gar- 
den, we hated being selfish, for we knew the old 




lady would despise us if there was any greediness, 
or snatching, or not sharing what we had, and we 
couldn't bear to have the old lady despise us. 

She gave us a little square of ground for our 
very own, and there we hoed, and weeded, and 
potted and planted just as we liked. Each of us 
had our own little plot, in which we grew our 
favorite flowers. Arthur's was largely set out with 
hollyhocks and sunflowers, for he said they were 
*' the giants of the garden," and Arthur had a 
particular fancy for giants. Barbara and I had 
pansies, and nasturtiums, and bouncing-Bets and 



i 3>v : 









stock-gillies and poppies. We especially liked the 
poppies, because there were so many beautiful 
shades of red and pink, which were our favorite 
colors. But Arthur would have none of them, for 

he said they smelt 
like laudanum when 
you had the tooth- 
ache. We said even 
that was better than 
having no smell at 
all, like his holly- 
hocks and sun- 
flowers, but Arthur 
insisted that it 
would be very much 
out of character for 
giants to wear per- 
fume, and we had 
to admit that he 
was right. 

The twins' plot 
did not come on 
very well, princi- 




pally because they kept pulling things up to see 
if they were growing. 

You see, the twins were only five, and they 
liked digging in the dirt better than waiting for 
plants to grow. They were always happy when 
they could "pot things,' and they potted a great 

many that were 
never intended 
to be treated 
that way. 
When, one day, 
they potted one 
of my new red 
hair- ribbons, 
with the ends 
sticking up for a 
"geranimum" , 
I decided that 
their gardening 
needed an over- 
seer. 

We played a 
great many 





games in the garden, in 
which the flowers had a 
part, but one day we got 
into trouble playing the 
-Garden of Eden." We 
had all been wading in the 
brook, with our bathing 
suits on, for Mother al- 
ways wished us to wear 
them when we went wad- 
ing because we got our 
clothes drabbled if we did 
not. All of a sudden, 
Arthur, who was very in- 
genious at inventing games, 
cried out, "O, girls, let's 
play Garden of Eden ! 
You, Mary, can be Adam, 
and Barbara can be Eve, 
and here's the apple tree, 
and the twins can be 
angels, and I — " 

Just then Mother came 




out and looked over the fence, and saw Arthur 
strutting round under the apple tree in his wet 
bathing suit. 

"Children, what are you doing?" she called. 

"O", shouted back Arthur, without a thought 
of how it would sound, "We're playing Garden of 
Eden. Mary and Barbara are Adam and Eve, and 
I'm God, walking in the Garden in the cool of 

the day !" 



Of course Mother was terribly shocked, and 
Arthur was called home at once, and there was a 
very serious conversation in-doors. / knew that 
Arthur did not mean to be irreverent, he was only 
carrying out the game, but I suppose he got 
spanked just the same. 

The old lady taught us a good deal about the 
flowers — about planting and watering, and what 

kind of soil they 
needed. She 
spent a great deal 
of time among 
her flowers, for 
she said she did 
love ''grubbing;" 
and she had the 
** lucky fingers" 
for which every- 
thing grew. It 
never seemed to 
matter where she 
dropped her seeds, 
they always came 





26 



up, and th(niL!;h she always cautioned us to plant 
only fresh seeds, shk could scatter from any old 
packet, and they never tailed to grow. 




She taught us in transplanting to be very care- 
ful, in warm weather, to do it only in the even- 
ing, so as to give the plants " the round of the 
clock" for cool rest before the sun grew hot upon 




28 



them ; and in cold weather we were to do our 
moving in the morning, so as to save them for the 
same length of time from possible frost. But for 
herself the time of day never seemed to count — if 
she put her cuttings in at noon-day her "lucky 
fingers " gave the charm that saved them from the 
heat, or if she set them out on a cold autumn 
evening, there was never frost that night. 




30 



We all missed our garden when the lon^ win- 
ter nionLhs came, even though we had some of 
our riowers irrowin'j: in window-hoxes. But the 
old lady kept our interest warm even when the 
deep snow was on the ground. We spent long 
hours looking over the seed catalogues she sent us, 
picking out our favorites and planning the garden 
we would make in the spring. And once when 
we were busy over our books, Mother said, 
** Children, did you know that a very long time 
ago, before seed catalogues ever were made, a man 
in England wrote a book all about a garden, and 
presented it to his (^leen, that she might read 
about her tlowers in the winter-time, when she 
could not see them 'fresh upon the ground'. But 
I don't suppose his book had any pictures in it, tor 
it was written in 1620." 

And of course we wanted to know more about 
the book and who the man was that wrote it, and 
she told us that his name was John Parkinson, and 
that he was the King's Herbarist. The old book 
was in Father's library, and was called *'The Gar- 
den of Pleasant Flowers." Mother got it down 



and read to us the queer old dedication to the 
Queen, and then she asked us who were King 
and Queen in 1620, and although Arthur 
and I had hoth been studying English history, 




L.ofC, 



neither of us could tell. But Mother sent us to 
find out, and we always remembered afterwards 
that King Charles the First reigned in 1620, and 
that Henrietta was his Queen. Then, after look- 
ing over the old book, all at once we were inspired 
to make a " tiower book." We cut from the 
catalogue our most dearly loved tiowers, and 
hunted out others from old magazines. Mother 
gave us a nice scrap-book to put them in, — 
"Only" she said, with a sly look at Arthur, " I 
hope you won't name your book The Garden of 
Eden." 

Just then Barbara had a thought — 
"Let's put ourselves into the book!" 
At first we did not understand how a numbei 
of children not very small could be got between 
the leaves of a book not very large, but when 
Barbara explained her idea, we all thought it was 
a good one, and we set at work hunting for pic- 
tures of children among fiowers or in gardens. It 
was surprising how many we found. We put 
them in the book along with the other pictures, 
and named the children for ourselves, or for 



those who had played with us in our real garden. 
Only we could not find any picture that would do 
for the twins, and the twins wanted very much to 
be put in the book, and we all felt badly about 




leaving them out. So mother asked the gentle- 
man who lived on the other side of us, and who 
was a photographer, to take a real picture of the 
twins, and he said if we could wait till spring, he 
would take them in our own garden, which of 
course, would be much nicer for our book than a 
winter scene. So we waited, and when the spring 
came, and the leaves were out, and the twins were 
once more ''potting things," he took the picture. 
Then our book was finished, and Mother said, 
"You had better call it 'The Children's Garden', 

for it has in it most of the fiowers that children 

1 ' ' 
love. 




The Michigan Trust Co. 

Capital, - - - $200,000.00 

Additional liability of stockholders, 200,000.00 

Surplus and undivided profits, 140,000.00 

Deposited with state treasurer, 100,000.00 

DIRECTORS: 

Wll.I.AKI) BaKMIAKT. HaKVKV J. HCM.I.ISTKK, 

Jamks M. Baknktt. Hknkv Idkma, 

Cha.s. J. Cani-ikld, S. B. Jknks, 

Darwin D Cody. Wm. JunsoN, 

\V. W. ClMMKK, J Bovi) Panti.ink, 

E GoLDKx Fii.KK, EinvAKD Lowe. 

F. A. GoKHAM, Wm. G. Robinson. 

Chas. H. Hacki.ky, Samuel Seak.s, 

TnoMA.s Hekfekan, Dudley E Wateks, 

Wm Alden S:mith. Lewi.s H. Withey. 
T. Stewakt White, 

OFFICERS: 

Lewi.s H. Withey, President. 

WiLi.AKi) B.VKNHART, Vice President. 

Henry Idem.a^, 2tid Vice President. 

F. A. GoRHAM, 3rd Vice President. 
George Hefkeran, Secretary. 

Claude Hamilton, Ass't Secretary. 



ACTS AS- 

EXECUTOR of wills. 

ADMINISTRATOR of estates. 

GUARDIAN of incompetent persons and minors. 

TRUSTEE for corporations and individuals as well as under mortgages 

and bond issues, 
RECEIVER and ASSIGNEE for corporations, firms or individuals. 
TRANSFER AGENT for corporations. 
AND in other capacities. 

LOANS MONEY on real estate security, 

TAKES ENTIRE CHARGE of PROPERTY— collects rent, pays taxes, 

attends to repairs, etc. 
AUDITS BOOKS of firms and corporations. 
Buys and Sells HIGH-GRADE BONDS and otficr securities. 

Has THOROUGHLY MODERN FIRE and BURGLAR 
PROOF SAFE DEPOSIT VAULTS. 

SEND FOR copv of our pamphlet containing- a digest of the 
laws of Michigan relating to the DESCENT AND DISTRI- 
BUTION OF PROPERTY. 

ALSO blank form of WILL. 



av 



DEC 89 1904 







LIBRfiRY OF CONGRESS 



000 913 671 P 



